My Bookish Goals For The Year 2025

Hope you had a great start to the New Year. Can’t believe that it is already almost 10 days into 2025.

Honestly, as the year 2025 rolled in, I had no intention of setting any goals. At all! 2024 put our family through the wringer and was a classic example of life changing in an instant. One moment, we were getting ready to attend my nephew’s wedding. The next moment, I was rushing my mother to the hospital. That was just the beginning. Complications resulted in her being admitted and readmitted for 30+ days with 2 weeks in the ICU. The day after mom was discharged, my brother was admitted with pericardial effusion. There is nothing worse than being at the other end of the globe and practically unable to do anything but hope and pray.

Between nebulizers and therapies and hospital visits, there was just a strong feeling of being emotionally overwhelmed with the going ons along with the fear that if I was capable of nursing my mother back to health. Alongside, January is not a month I look forward to either. Next week, it will be 8 years since we lost our father.

As my mother’s health is improving (although it will be a while until she is back on her feet), things are finally looking hopeful. I am extremely grateful to the community for checking up on me from time to time and sending wishes and prayers for her recovery.

Initially, I had planned to post a reading update, but that is another story. More on that later. To get at least some semblance of normalcy where blogging is concerned, I decided to set a few bookish goals instead and share them.

Taking It Slow

It is almost 10 days in and I haven’t finished my first book of the year yet. Neither have I signed up for any reading challenges or even set a Goodreads goal.

2025 is going to be a demanding year and I want to return to the basics where reading is concerned. Take it slow. Pick up the books I want to read. No added stress of reaching the x y z goal. I may sign up for challenges later. Never say never.

Track My Reading

It kind of goes without saying but I have been rather behind in tracking my reading. As I mentioned before, when I was planning my first post of the year, I had initially thought of a reading wrap-up with stats, charts and all. But I had barely any data to go with. I have not been tracking anything these past few months. It has just been comfort reads and rereads and anything I laid my hands on.

This goal also includes tracking my reading on Instagram, something I haven’t done in a long time.

Diversify My Reading

I have spoken on end on how I make my reading more inclusive and shared quite a few recommendations. I want to continue exploring diverse voices both in fiction and non-fiction. I may contradict myself here but I do plan to participate in some self-paced and no-stress reading challenges. On the top of my list is Book’d Out’s 2025 Nonfiction Reader Challenge that I participate in each year.

I also want to revisit those fun activities I did before I started book blogging. Creating a literary map of where the books are set in. Both Indian and global. After all, books are a great way to travel right from the comfort of your couch.

Review Every Book I Read

Whether it is a reading update or Goodreads, I plan to review each book I read in 2025. Even if it is a short review.

Sometimes you just want to enjoy the book and not take notes alongside. More often than not, it is due to the lack of time. I dropped the ball on reading updates last January. Maybe I can continue it better this year.

Read And Support Independent Publishers and Self-Published Authors

One of the driving forces in launching my book blog was to talk about lesser-known, under-the-radar books that are must-read. Books that have missed all the hype and hysteria. It is an ongoing goal each year. I hope to continue reading and supporting indie publishers and authors.

Read More Translated Books

Translated works always have my heart. Each year, I try to enrich my reading list by seeking out translated works. Across India and the world. This year I want to explore more books from North East India.

Read More Hindi Books

If you have been following me for a while, you would know that I have always loved picking books in Hindi. There is indeed a special charm of reading a book in your own language. From time to time, I have also tried to introduce (and re-introduce) English book readers to Hindi literature via my blog.

Tackle My Owned TBR

Another priority this year is to tackle my owned TBR, both physical and digital. Particularly my physical TBR that I haven’t been able to get to in the past couple of years. As for book-buying bans, I am not into them. Can’t do. Won’t do. Period.

This also includes the Netgalley shelf where I have a decent review score of 57%. Not necessarily something I am proud of.

Clean Up My Goodreads TBR

I have been inclined to clean up my Goodreads TBR for the longest time. It has books added way back in 2016 that I honestly don’t plan to read anymore. I have been a bit more successful with my spreadsheet TBR where I remove books I know I will not read.

Revive My Bookstagram

If you can call it that. Each time I plan to participate in an activity to give it a boost, work takes priority. I only managed two posts there last year. Fingers crossed, 2025 is the year.

Alongside this, I also plan to share my reading updates on Instagram. It sure could need a boost.

Donate Books

We bibliophiles dream of a home library packed with books. But let’s be honest, are we truly going to read them again? I want to continue sharing the love of reading by donating books to fellow book lovers and the local library.

This has ended up being quite a long list. But I feel this is the bare minimum I need to do to continue my journey as a reader and book blogger in 2025 and enjoy it too. Do you have any bookish goals for the year?  Do share in the comments below.

This post is part of the Bookish League blog hop hosted by Bohemian Bibliophile.

Photo credit: Canva.com